English teams in Champions Cup showed Premiership still has aura May 6, 2024 For the fourth consecutive Investec Champions Cup final there will be no Premiership side, and for the fourth consecutive final there will instead be representatives from both the multi-national United Rugby Championship and the French Top 14. But is that reason to be gloomy about the English top flight? Not at all. Because in the [...]
Champions Cup: Leinster vs Toulouse is the final we deserve, and want May 6, 2024 So there we have it; seven weekends of Investec Champions Cup action has delivered the final many wanted, and expected. When the final concludes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 25 May, it’ll either see French giants Toulouse extend their record of European trophies from five to six, or see Irish stalwarts Leinster move level [...]
English teams Harlequins and Northampton Saints underdogs in Champions Cup May 3, 2024 Like most people, I will look at this weekend’s Investec Champions Cup fixtures and go on to predict a final between four-time champions Leinster and five-time winners Toulouse. The two clubs are European powerhouses and it would take some upset by either Harlequins across the English Channel or Northampton Saints across the Irish Sea to [...]
Meet Daniel Loitz, the man trying to resurrect London Irish rugby legacy April 30, 2024 When London Irish went bust in 2023 many thought that was the end of one of Premiership Rugby’s famous clubs. But businessman Daniel Loitz wants to buy the club. What does the Bernadotte Dynasty of the Swedish royal family, a Kazakh steel works company, an Uzbek railway project, the Berlin Wall and the fall of [...]
RFU and Premiership Rugby close in on £264m funding deal April 29, 2024 The Rugby Football Union, RFU, and Premiership Rugby have finally agreed a new Premiership Game Partnership, worth £264m, which will shape the English game for the next eight years. It is understood that legal details are all that remain between now and the new deal being signed, with the Telegraph suggesting the central policy will [...]
Champions Cup final could be bumped from ITV1 to make room for FA Cup April 23, 2024 Broadcaster ITV is facing a scheduling conundrum next month with the FA Cup final and the Champions Cup rugby final set to take place on the same day at the same time. Due to the derby between Manchester United and Manchester City being one requiring heightened security, the kick-off was moved to 3pm. But the [...]
Dallaglio charity in gruelling 1,500km cycle from Rome to Nice April 22, 2024 A gruelling cycling challenge spearheaded by Rugby World Cup winner Lawrence Dallaglio is into its second stage as a peloton cycle from Rome to Nice in aid of charity. The 1,500km challenge aims to raise £100,000 for RugbyWorks, a charity founded by the England international. Dallaglio said: We are currently over half way through the [...]
Premiership rugby: Top four race shows product deserves off-pitch stability April 21, 2024 When Joe Carpenter won an 82nd minute turnover against the run of play to hand his Sale Sharks side a 37-31 victory over Harlequins, it catapulted the Mancunians from eighth into sixth in the Premiership table and reduced the deficit to the play-off spots to just three points. With Northampton Saints five points clear of [...]